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Sega Technical Institute
| defunct = 1996 | successor = Sega of America Product Development | hq_location_city = San Francisco, California | hq_location_country = United States | key_people = | products = | parent = Sega of America | website = }} Sega Technical Institute (STI) was a video game development division of Sega based in the United States. Founded by Atari veteran Mark Cerny, the studio sought to combine elite Japanese development talent with new American developers after the arrival of Sonic Team developer Yuji Naka and his team. STI developed a number of games in the ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series, as well as other games for the Sega Genesis before it was closed at the end of 1996 due to management changes at Sega of America. History Founding and Cerny years Mark Cerny, a fan of computer programming and arcade games, started in the game industry at the age of 17 when he joined Atari in 1982. Cerny's first major success is usually cited as Marble Madness in which he, at age 18, acted as designer and co-programmer. After his time with Atari, he worked with Sega in Japan, where he worked on various Master System releases. Cerny worked on various games for the Master System's launch, as well as the console's 3D glasses accessory. In 1990, Cerny returned to the United States with a desire to create a small development team. At the same time, Sega of America CEO Michael Katz and executive vice president Shinobu Toyoda had prioritized increasing game development in the United States due to a lack of titles that catered to American tastes. By 1991, Sega allowed Cerny to start up STI as a game development studio. Two projects of STI were started early in the year: Kid Chameleon and Greendog: The Beached Surfer Dude! Shortly after the release of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Team developers Yuji Naka and Hirokazu Yasuhara, as well as a number of other Japanese developers, relocated to California to join STI. According to Cerny, Naka had quit Sega due to issues with financial compensation and backlash from the company over the time and effort it had taken to finish Sonic. Cerny, who had been in Japan while he was setting up STI, visited Naka's apartment, listened to the reasons why he left, and convinced Naka to join him in America as a way to fix the issues he had had with Sega in Japan. Yasuhara, who had designed most of the stages and gameplay of Sonic, chose to come with Naka. Cerny's aim was to establish an elite development studio that would combine the design philosophies of American and Japanese developers. Later in 1991, STI began development on Sonic the Hedgehog 2, with a team composed of both nationalities. While Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was a success, its development suffered some setbacks; the language barrier and cultural differences created a rift between the Japanese and American developers. Hector years Once development on Sonic 2 concluded, Cerny departed from Sega Technical Institute and was replaced by Atari veteran Roger Hector. Under Hector, STI was divided into two teams: the Japanese developers led by Naka, and the American developers. The Americans developed Sonic Spinball, while the Japanese worked on Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles. Following the release of Sonic & Knuckles in 1994, Yasuhara began working on games for Sega of America, while Naka returned to Japan to continue work with Sonic Team. During 1995, the mostly American staff completed ''Comix Zone'' and ''The Ooze'', the only games to bear the STI logo. STI completed one game in partnership with Sega-AM1, ''Die Hard Arcade''. STI became an unusual place in Sega's organizational structure. According to Hector, STI reported both to Sega of Japan and Sega of America, but was independent and did not have to fit into corporate structure. Hector states that because of this, "we were able to concentrate on creating fun games. This is what made STI very special." As Sonic Team was working on Nights into Dreams, Sega tasked STI with developing what would have been the first fully 3D entry in its popular Sonic the Hedgehog series. The game, Sonic X-treme, was moved to the Saturn after several prototypes for other hardware (including the 32X) were discarded. It featured a fisheye lens camera system that rotated levels with Sonic's movement. After Nakayama ordered the game be reworked around the engine created for its boss battles, the developers were forced to work between 16 and 20 hours a day to meet their December 1996 deadline. Weeks of development time proved fruitless after Stolar rescinded STI's access to Sonic Team's Nights into Dreams engine following an ultimatum by Nights programmer Yuji Naka. After programmer Ofer Alon quit and designers Chris Senn and Chris Coffin became ill, the project was cancelled in early 1997. Sonic Team started work on an original 3D Sonic game for the Saturn, but development shifted to the Dreamcast and the game became Sonic Adventure. Dissolution STI was disbanded in 1996 as a result of changes in management at Sega of America. According to Hector, the success of Sony and the PlayStation console led to corporate turmoil within Sega that resulted in STI being dissolved. Producer Mike Wallis stated that STI was not actually disbanded, but rather became Sega of America's product development department, while the previous department branched to form SegaSoft. After the STI's closure, developers Peter Morawiec and Adrian Stephens of STI formed Luxoflux. Game library References Category:Sega divisions and subsidiaries Category:Video game developers Category:Defunct video game companies